Instant messaging server providing multiple types of chat rooms

ABSTRACT

Provided are an instant messaging server providing a plurality of types of chat rooms, and a method of operating the instant messaging server. The method includes storing chat data transmitted and received in a first type chat room in a shared drive corresponding to an administrator with a first type account having an authority to manage the chat room, receiving, from a participant participating in a chat room, a request for previous chat data transmitted and received in the chat room before the participant started participating, and providing the previous chat data stored in the shared drive to the participant based on an access authority of the shared drive set in response to a chat room type.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 USC § 119(a) of KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2020-0148892, filed on Nov. 9, 2020, in theKorean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The following description relates to an instant messaging server thatprovides multiple types of chat rooms and a method of operating theinstant messaging server.

2. Description of Related Art

An instant messaging service is a service for transmitting and receivingmessages between two or more users using a network, which may beprovided to a user through a client program called an instant messenger.Unlike an existing instant messenger that transmits and receivesmessages in text form, an instant messenger may be provided with variousfunctions, such as transmitting and receiving various types of mediafiles including photo, video, and voice files, and group datatransmission and reception functions allowing communication between twoor more users at the same time. The use of instant messengers in userterminals such as mobile communication terminals and personal computers(PC) has been recently increasing, and thus there is a demand fordeveloping various and convenient instant messaging service technologiesfor sharing conversations and/or data with other participants byparticipating in a chatroom, of which there are a large number and avariety.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

One or more example embodiments provide an instant messaging service forsatisfying various needs of an instant user and an instant messagingtechnology that allows multiple users to efficiently share datatransmitted and received through a chat room.

One or more example embodiments provide an instant messaging technologyusing multiple types of chat rooms in which a method of managing datatransmitted and received through a chat room is diversified.

However, technical tasks to be achieved by the present disclosure arenot limited to the above-described technical tasks, and other technicaltasks may exist.

According to an aspect, there is provided a method of operating aninstant messaging server, the method including storing chat datatransmitted and received in a first type chat room in a shared drivecorresponding to an administrator with a first type account having anauthority to manage the chat room, receiving, from a participantparticipating in a chat room, a request for previous chat datatransmitted and received in the chat room before the participant startedparticipating, and providing the previous chat data stored in the shareddrive to the participant based on an access authority of the shareddrive set in response to a chat room type.

The method may further include changing the access authority of theshared drive based on a type conversion of the chat mom by anadministrator account.

The method may further include converting the chat room type into asecond type when an administrator account is converted into a secondtype account, and terminating use of the shared drive in response to atype conversion of the chat room.

The method may further include managing the first type chat room in asuspended state when an administrator account is converted into a secondtype account, and restricting access to the chat data stored in theshared drive while the suspended state continues.

The method may further include converting the chat room type into asecond type based on a duration of the suspended state, and terminatinguse of the shared drive based on a type conversion of the chat room.

The method may further include removing an access restriction on thechat data stored in the shared drive when the administrator account isconverted into the first type account in the suspended state.

The method may further include removing an access restriction on thechat data stored in the shared drive when an administrator authority istransferred to a participant with the first type account participatingin the chat room in the suspended state.

The method may further include receiving, from a user, a request togenerate the chat room to which at least one participant is assigned,generating, as the first type, the chat room comprising the user and atleast one participant based on an account type of the user, allocating aspace for the chat room in the shared drive, and setting the user as theadministrator of the chat room.

The method may further include storing at least one of the chat datatransmitted and received in the chat room alter the participant startedparticipating and the previous chat data in a personal drivecorresponding to the participant based on an account type of theparticipant.

The method may further include deleting the chat data stored in theshared drive corresponding to the administrator in response to a requestto terminate the chat room, and deleting the chat data stored in thepersonal drive corresponding to the participant.

According to another aspect, there is provided an instant messagingserver, the instant messaging server including a processor. Theprocessor may store chat data transmitted and received in a first typechat room in a shared drive corresponding to an administrator with afirst type account having an authority to manage the chat room, receive,from a participant participating in a chat room, a request for previouschat data transmitted and received in the chat room before theparticipant started participating, and provide the previous chat datastored in the shared drive to the participant based on an accessauthority of the shared drive set in response to a chat room type.

The processor may convert the chat room type into a second type when anadministrator account is converted into a second type account, andterminate use of the shared drive in response to a type conversion ofthe chat room.

The processor may manage the first type chat room in a suspended statewhen an administrator account is converted into a second type account,and restrict access to the chat data stored in the shared drive whilethe suspended state continues.

The processor may convert the chat room type into a second type based ona duration of the suspended state, and terminate use of the shared drivebased on a type conversion of the chat room.

The processor may remove an access restriction on the chat data storedin the shared drive when the administrator account is converted into thefirst type account in the suspended state.

The processor may remove an access restriction on the chat data storedin the shared drive when an administrator authority is transferred to aparticipant with the first type account participating in the chat roomin the suspended state.

The processor may receive, from a user, a request to generate the chatroom to which at least one participant is assigned, generate, as thefirst type, the chat room comprising the user and at least oneparticipant based on an account type of the user, allocate a space forthe chat room in the shared drive, and set the user as the administratorof the chat room.

The processor may store at least one of the chat data transmitted andreceived in the chat room after the participant started participatingand the previous chat data in a personal drive corresponding to theparticipant based on an account type of the participant.

The processor may delete the chat data stored in the shared drivecorresponding to the administrator in response to a request to terminatethe chat room, and delete the chat data stored in the personal drivecorresponding to the participant.

Other features and aspects swill be apparent from the following detaileddescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF IRE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an instant messaging system providing aplurality of types of chat rooms according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of comparing types of chat rooms accordingto an example embodiment.

FIGS. 3A through 4B illustrate examples of access authority of a shareddrive according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of terminating a team chat room accordingto an example embodiment.

FIGS. 6A through 6C illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for opening a team chat room according to exampleembodiments.

FIGS. 7A through 7C illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for receiving previous chat data through a team chatroom according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 8A through 8D illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for changing settings of a team chat room according toexample embodiments.

Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwisedescribed or provided, the same drawing reference numerals will beunderstood to refer to the same elements, features, and structures. Thedrawings may not be to scale, and the relative size, proportions, anddepiction of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity,illustration, and convenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader ingaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses,and/or systems described herein. However, various changes,modifications, and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/orsystems described herein will be apparent after an understanding of thedisclosure of this application. For example, the sequences of operationsdescribed herein are merely examples, and are not limited to those setforth herein, but may be changed as will be apparent after anunderstanding of the disclosure of this application, with the exceptionof operations necessarily occurring in a certain order.

The terminology used herein is for describing various examples only andis not to be used to limit the disclosure. The articles “a,” “an,” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “includes,”and “has” specify the presence of stated features, numbers, operations,members, elements, and/or combinations thereof, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, operations,members, elements, and/or combinations thereof.

Throughout the specification, when a component is described as being“connected to,” or “coupled to” another component, it may be directly“connected to,” or “coupled to” the other component, or there may be oneor more other components intervening therebetween. In contrast, when anelement is described as being “directly connected to,” or “directlycoupled to” another element, there can be no other elements interveningtherebetween.

Although terms such as “first,” “second,” and “third” may be used hereinto describe various members, components, regions, layers, or sections,these members, components, regions, layers, or sections are not to belimited by these terms. Rather, these terms are only used to distinguishone member, component, region, layer, or section from another member,component, region, layer, or section. Thus, a first member, component,region, layer, or section referred to in the examples described hereinmay also be referred to as a second member, component, region, layer, orsection without departing from the teachings of the examples.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms, including technical and scientificterms, used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains and basedon an understanding of the disclosure of the present application. Terms,such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, are to beinterpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning inthe context of the relevant art and the disclosure of the presentapplication and are not to be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Hereinafter, examples will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. When describing the examples with reference tothe accompanying drawings, like reference numerals refer to likecomponents and a repeated description related thereto will be omitted.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an instant messaging system providing aplurality of types of chat rooms according to an example embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a system may include at least one of a userterminal 110, an instant messaging server, and a database 130.Hereinafter, the instant messaging server may be simply referred to as aserver 120. The user terminal 110 and the server 120 may perform dataexchange communication through a network, and the server 120 may accessthe database 130 and manage the database 130 by storing or obtainingdata.

The user terminal 110 may include, for example, a personal computer(PC), a netbook, a laptop, a personal digital appliance (PDA), a smartphone, a wearable device, and various user display devices forperforming a similar function.

The user terminal 110 may be implemented by an installed instantmessenger application. The instant messenger application may include anapplication associated with a social networking service (SNS) having aninstant messenger function. A user may use an instant messaging serviceprovided by the server 120 through the instant messenger applicationinstalled in the user terminal 110. For example, the user may subscribeto the instant messaging service through an application installed in aterminal, generate an account, and use the instant messaging servicecorresponding to the generated account.

The server 120 may provide the instant messaging service and include atleast one processor to perform a process for the instant messagingservice. The server 120 may be linked with the instant messengerapplication installed in the user terminal 110 for a user interface(UI), a function, an operation, or a service. The server 120 maygenerate a chat room corresponding to accounts of users, provide afunction of transmitting and receiving data between the user terminals110, and store and manage data associated with the instant messagingservice.

The chat room generated by the server 120 may include one or more ofparticipants, and a participant may correspond to an account of a usersubscribed to the instant messaging service. The participant maytransmit and receive a message including visual information (e.g., atext, an emoticon, a shape, etc.) and a message including audioinformation (e.g., a voice) with other participants through the chatroom. In addition, various types of media files (e.g., photo file, videofile, audio file, etc.) may be transmitted and received through the chatroom. Hereinafter, messages and media files transmitted and received ina chat room may be referred to as chat data.

The server 120, or the instant messaging server, may deliver chat datatransmitted from the participant of the chat room through the chat roomto the other participants of the chat room and perform a process ofdelivering an instant message. For example, the server 120 may store thechat data transmitted through the chat room in the database 130 andprovide a notification that the chat data has been received for the userterminals 110 of the participants in the chat room through a pushserver. The participant of the chat room may access the chat roomthrough the instant messenger application installed in the user terminal110, and the server 120 may respond to the participant accessing thechat room and transmit the chat data stored in the database 130 to theuser terminal 110 of the participant accessing the chat room.

The server 120 may provide various types of chat rooms including a firsttype and a second type. Authority to open a chat room, authority toparticipate in a chat room, a memory in which chat data is stored, andaccess authority of the memory in which the chat data is stored may bedetermined differently for the various types of chat rooms. For example,a first type chat room (e.g., a team chat room), may restrict authorityof a user (e.g., a user with access to cloud storage separate from theinstant messaging server) to open a chat room, and a second type chatroom (e.g., a general chat room) may not restrict authority of the userto open the chat room. Unlike a general chat room, a team chat room mayprovide a function of viewing chat data before participating in the chatroom. To be described in detail hereinafter, the chat data of the teamchat room may be stored in a shared drive of cloud storage of anadministrator, and the participant may view previous chat data before heor she participates in the team chat room by accessing the shared driveof the administrator.

For example, chat data of the first type chat room may be stored in afirst database a mailbox) and a separately allocated second database(e.g., cloud storage) corresponding to an account of the participant. Incontrast, chat data of the second type chat room may be stored in afirst database (e.g., a mailbox) only. A message transmitted through achat room may be delivered to the participants of the chat room throughthe mailbox or the cloud storage. Here, the chat data stored in amailbox may be deleted when a preset duration elapses, whereas the chatdata stored in cloud storage may be maintained with no limit onduration. In addition, the mailbox may be useable irrespective of useraccount type, whereas the cloud storage may be only useable for someaccount types.

In another example, access authority of a memory in which the chat dataof the first type chat room is stored and access authority of a memoryin which the chat data of the second type chat room is stored may bedetermined differently from each other.

The first type chat room may be converted into the second type chatroom. The server 120 may determine a preset condition under which thefirst type chat room may be converted into the second type chat room,and when the condition is satisfied, the first type chat room may beconverted into the second type chat room. When the first type chat roomis converted into the second type chat room, the chat data correspondingto the converted chat room may be deleted from the memory (e.g., cloudstorage) storing the chat data of the first type chat room and be storedin the memory corresponding to the second type chat room. When the firsttype chat room is converted into the second type chat room, accessauthority of the memory in which the chat data is stored may be changedfrom access authority of the memory corresponding to the first type chatroom to access authority of the memory corresponding to the second typechat room.

Functions provided by the first type chat room may be partiallyrestricted based on a state of the chat room. For example, when thefirst type chat room is in a normal use state, all functions of thefirst type chat room may be activated and in contrast, when the firsttype chat room is in another state (e.g., a suspended state) that isdifferent from the normal use state, functions of the first type chatroom may be partially deactivated. In addition, when the state of thefirst type chat room is changed from the normal use state to anotherstate, access authority of the memory corresponding to the first typechat room may be changed.

Hereinafter, a first type chat room may be referred to as a team chatroom, and a second type chat room may be referred to as a general chatroom.

The database 130 may store chat data in response to a chat room, and aduration in which the chat data is stored in the database 130 may bedifferent based on a chat room type (e.g., a team chat room or a generalchat room), A separate database corresponding to an account of a usermay be constructed. The database 130 corresponding to the account of theuser may store the chat data corresponding to the account of the user.The database 130 for storing chat data may be configured differentlybased on the user account type, and a duration for which the chat datais stored in the database 130 may be different,

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of comparing types of chat rooms accordingto an example embodiment.

According to an example embodiment, a server may provide a team chatroom, which is different from a general chat room, A user who can openthe team chat room may be limited to a user with a first type account(e.g., a paid account), and at least one participant with the first typeaccount among participants of the team chat room may be an administratorhaving authority to manage the team chat room. The user who opens theteam chat room may be set as the administrator of the team chat room,and administrator authority may be transferred to another participantwith the first type account by the administrator. Chat data transmittedand received through the team chat room may be stored in a shared drivecorresponding to the administrator. A user with a second type account(e.g., an unpaid member) may not have authority to open the team chatroom and may not have authority to administrate the team chat room.

The user with the first type account may be provided swim cloud storage.The cloud storage provided to the user with the first type account mayinclude a personal drive and a shared drive. Chat data transmitted andreceived in the general chat room may be stored in the personal drive,and chat data transmitted and received in the team chat room in whichthe user has administrator authority may be stored in the shared drive.

A user account type subscribed to an instant messaging service may beclassified into a plurality of types, and available instant messagingservices may be classified based on the user account type. Hereinafter,a first type account will be described as an example of opening a teamchat room having authority to use a cloud storage separately from theserver, and other account types will be described as examples of otheraccount types (e.g., a second type account). For example, the useraccount type may be classified into a paid member and an unpaid member.A paid member may correspond to the account type of a user usingadditional paid services by paying a separate fee for the instantmessaging service, and an unpaid member may correspond to the accounttype of a user using basic services without paying a separate fee forthe instant messaging service. The server may provide the cloud storageto the account of the paid member by allocating a storage spacecorresponding to the account of the paid member.

That is, the user with the first type account have authority to generatea team chat room. The server may provide a function of opening a teamchat room to a user with the first type account having authority to openthe team chat room. The server may receive a request to open the teamchat room from the user with the first type account having authority toopen the team chat room and generate the team chat room in response toan open request. The user with the second type account having noauthority to open the team chat room may not be allowed to make arequest to open the team chat room to the server, and even if the teamchat room is opened by a request, it may be determined Whether theaccount of the user making the request to open the team chat room to theserver corresponds to a preset account type having authority to open theteam chat room. Thus, it may be determined whether the team chat roommay be opened or not.

Referring to FIG. 2 , a user with a first type account attempting toopen a chat room may open a general chat room and a team chat room. Theuser may open the team chat room at a generation point 201 afterregistering with the first type account, that is, after an account typeof the user is changed to a first type. A general chat room may beopened irrespective of whether the user is registered with the firsttype account. That is, the user may open the general chat room evenbefore registering with the first type account.

When a team chat room is opened, at least one participant with the firsttype account among participants of the team chat room may be set as anadministrator of the team chat room. A server may automatically set ateam chat room generator as the administrator of the team chat room.Another participant corresponding to the first type account among theparticipants of the team chat room may be set as the administrator basedon a preset standard. For example, when a team chat room is generated, auser assigned by the team chat room generator may be set as theadministrator.

After a team chat room is opened, chat data 220 transmitted and receivedin the team chat room may be stored in a shared drive corresponding tothe administrator of the team chat room until a termination point 202 ofthe team chat room. The shared drive corresponding to the administratorof the team chat room may be storage allocated to the administratoraccount and be included in a drive provided to the user with the firsttype account. The server may allocate a space for the team chat room inthe shared drive corresponding to the administrator of the team chatroom and store the chat data transmitted and received in the team chatroom in the shared drive corresponding to the administrator of the teamchat room. The chat data stored in the shared drive may be viewed andmanaged through the team chat room, and the participants in the teamchat room may share the chat data stored in the shared drive through theteam chat room. For example, a participant may make a request to theserver for the chat data transmitted and received in the team chat roombefore he or she started participating in the team chat room, and theserver receiving the request may view the requested chat data requestedin the shared drive and provide the chat data to the participant throughthe team chat room.

The chat data transmitted and received in a general chat room may bestored in a personal drive corresponding to the account of theparticipant based on the account type of the participant in the generalchat room. The personal drive corresponding to the account of theparticipant may be storage allocated to the account of the participantand be included in the drive provided to a user with the first typeaccount. Chat data 210 transmitted and received in a chat room in whichthe participant is participating after the account of the participant isconverted into the first type account may be stored in the personaldrive of the participant.

A team chat room may be terminated because of termination conditions setin response to the team chat room. The termination conditions set inresponse to the team chat room may include conditions such as when theteam chat room is deleted by the administrator, when the team chat roomhas no participants, and when the administrator account is converted.When the team chat room is terminated, the team chat room may beconverted into a general chat room.

When the administrator account is converted into the second typeaccount, a team chat room may be terminated. That is, when the useraccount type set as the administrator of the team chat room is convertedinto another type and the administrator loses the authority, the teamchat room may be terminated. For example, when a first type account ofthe administrator of the team chat room is closed, the team chat roommay be terminated. In another example, when the first type account ofthe administrator of the team chat room is closed, the team chat roommay be terminated after a preset suspension period elapses from a timepoint at which the first type account is closed.

A general chat room may be maintained irrespective of a conversion of anaccount type of a generator or a participant of the general chat room.For example, a general chat room opened by the administrator of a teamchat room may not be terminated even when the administrator account ofthe team chat room is converted into the second type account. A generalchat room may be terminated by termination conditions set in response tothe general chat room, and the termination conditions set in response toa general chat room and a team chat room may be conditions independentfrom each other.

When a team chat room is generated, the participants of the team chatroom may include users assigned by the generator and users invited afterthe team chat room is generated. The administrator of the team chat roommay have authority to manage the participants of the team chat room. Forexample, after the team chat room is generated, a participant may beinvited to the team chat room by the administrator of the team chatroom, and the participant may be removed from the team chat room by theadministrator. Authority to add a participant may be given to anotherparticipant, in addition to the administrator.

The participant of a team chat room may view the chat data transmittedand received in the team chat room through the team chat room andtransmit and receive data (e.g., messages, media files, etc.) with otherparticipants through the team chat room. That is, the participants of ateam chat room may share data through the team chat room. A user removedfrom the team chat room may have no access to the team chat room to viewthe chat data of the team chat room and may not transmit and receivedata through the team chat room.

For example, referring to FIG. 2 , when a first participant participatesin the team chat room after the team chat room is generated, the firstparticipant may receive previous chat data 230 and chat data 240transmitted and received in the team chat room through the team chatroom. The previous chat data 230 and the chat data 240 transmitted andreceived in the team chat room may be classified into chat datapreviously transmitted and received in the team chat room from ageneration point 203 of the team chat room to a participation point 204of the team chat room in which the first participant is participatingand chat data that is transmitted and received in the team chat roomfrom the generation point 203 and a termination point 205 of the teamchat room, After starting to participate, the first participant maytransmit and receive chat data with other participants through the teamchat room and receive the previous chat data 230, in addition to thechat data 240.

The server may provide a function of retrieving the previous chat data230 for a participant of a team chat room using the shared drivecorresponding to the administrator account of the team chat room, Afterthe team chat room is generated, the first participant participating inthe team chat room may use a previous chat data retrieval function toretrieve the previous chat data 230 by making a request to the serverfor the previous chat data 230 before participating in the team chatroom. The previous chat data retrieval function may provide chat datatransmitted and received in the team chat room to the participantthrough the team chat room before the participant starts participatingin the team chat room. The server may store the chat data transmittedand received through the team chat room in the shared drivecorresponding to the administrator account of the team chat room andprovide the previous chat data retrieval function to the participant ofthe team chat room by displaying the chat data stored in the shareddrive in the team chat room.

It may be determined whether a function for retrieving the previous chatdata 230 is to be provided to the participant based on access authorityof the shared drive. Access authority of the shared drive may allow thecontrolling of access to the shared drive. Access authority may include,for example, authority to perform an operation to read data stored inthe shared drive and authority to perform an operation to write data inthe shared drive. It may be determined whether access to the chat datastored in the shared drive is restricted (e.g., a team chat room in asuspended state) and whether use of the shared drive is suspended (e.g.,a team chat room is terminated) based on access authority of the shareddrive. Access authority of the shared drive may change based on a typeor a state of a chat room. Changing access authority of the shared driveis described below.

The server receiving a request for previous chat data may provide theprevious chat data 230 stored in the shared drive to the participantbased on a right to access the shared drive set in response to a teamchat room. When access to the shared drive corresponding to theadministrator account is allowed, the previous chat data retrievalfunction may be provided. When access to the shared drive correspondingto the administrator account is restricted, the previous chat dataretrieval function may not be provided. Before providing the previouschat data 230 to the participant, the server may determine whetheraccess to the shared drive for viewing the previous chat data 230 isallowed based on access authority of the shared drive set in response tothe state of the chat room. When access to the previous chat data 230stored in the shared drive is not allowed based on access authority ofthe shared drive, the first participant may be restricted from beingprovided with the previous chat data 230.

The previous chat data 230 and the chat data 240 transmitted andreceived through a team chat morn may be separately stored in thepersonal drive corresponding to the account of the participant, wherethe account is the first type account. The previous chat data 230 andthe chat data 240 that the participant can access through the team chatroom may be stored in the personal drive of the participant based onsettings of the participant with the first type account. For aparticipant with the second type account, a separate cloud storage maynot be used, and the previous chat data 230 and the chat data 240transmitted and received through the team chat room may not be stored inthe separate cloud storage corresponding to the second type account.

The server may store, in the personal drive corresponding to theparticipant, at least one of the chat data 240 transmitted and receivedin a team chat room after the participant with the first account typestarted participating and the previous chat data 230 transmitted andreceived in the team chat room before the participant startedparticipating. For example, chat data stored in the personal drivecorresponding to the account of the participant may include the previouschat data 230 transmitted and received in the team chat room after theparticipant started participating, in addition, when the previous chatdata 230 is provided through the previous chat data retrieval functionin the team chat room corresponding to the participant, chat data storedin the personal drive corresponding to the account of the participantmay include the previous chat data 230.

FIGS. 3A through 4B illustrate examples of access authority of a shareddrive according to example embodiments.

According to an example embodiment, access authority of a shared drivemay be s determined based on a chat room type. For example, in a case ofa team chat room, when a shared drive corresponding to an administratoraccount is accessed, chat data transmitted and received in the team chatroom may be stored in the shared drive, and access authority of theshared drive may be determined such that the chat data stored in theshared drive may be viewed through the team chat room by a participantother than the administrator of the team chat room. In a case of ageneral chat room, chat data transmitted and received in the generalchat room may not be stored in the shared drive, and access authority ofthe shared drive may be determined such that a participant of thegeneral chat room may not view the chat data stored in a drivecorresponding to the account of another participant through the chatroom. For a general chat room, access authority of the shared drive maybe determined such that use of the shared drive is terminated.

As described above, a team chat room may be converted into a generalchat room based on a type conversion of the administrator account, inaddition, access authority of the shared drive may change based on thechanged account type of the administrator. When the administratoraccount is converted into the second type account, the server mayconvert the chat room type into a normal chat room type and terminateuse of the shared drive.

Access authority of the shared drive may be determined differently basedon a state of a team chat room. When the chat room type is the team chatroom type, access authority of the shared drive may change as the stateof the team chat room changes. For example, when the team chat room isin a normal use state, the chat data may be stored in the shared driveof the administrator, and access authority of the shared drive may bedetermined such that the chat data stored in the shared drive isaccessible. When the team chat room is in a state different from thenormal use state, storing the chat data in the shared drive may berestricted, or access authority of the shared drive may be determinedsuch that access to the chat data stored in the shared drive isrestricted. For example, when the team chat room is in a suspendedstate, the chat data in the shared drive may be stored, and accessauthority of the shared drive may be determined such that viewing thechat data stored in the shared drive is restricted. Here, the suspendedstate may be a state in which a conversion occurs when conditions formaintaining a first type account are not temporarily satisfied. Forexample, when an administrator with the first type account does not meetthe conditions for maintaining the first type account (e.g., unpaidexpenses), a suspended state may be applied.

The state of a team chat room may change according to an administratoraccount of the team chat room. When the administrator account of theteam chat room is converted, the state of the team chat room may change.For example, when an account type of a user set as an administrator of achat room is converted into a second type account, and the administratorloses the authority, the team chat room may change to be in thesuspended state. According to an example embodiment, when anadministrator account is converted into the second type account, theserver may manage the team chat room in the suspended state, and whilethe suspended state continues, access to the chat data stored in theshared drive may be restricted.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, after a team chat room is opened, anadministrator account of the team chat room may be converted from afirst type account into a second type account, and thus a state of theteam chat room may change. The state of the team chat room fromgeneration points 301 and 311 of the team chat room to state changepoints 303 and 312 of the team chat room may be a normal use state, andthe state of the team chat room after the state change points 303 and312 may be a suspended state.

Referring to FIG. 3A, when a team chat room is in a normal use state ata participation point 302 in which a first participant participates inthe team chat room, the first participant may view previous chat data(e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_4) stored in a shared drive through theteam chat room in a normal use period according to access authority ofthe shared drive based on a state of the team chat room. However, whilethe team chat room is in a suspended state, the first participant maynot view the previous chat data (e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_4)stored in the shared drive through the team chat room. In a suspendedstate, viewing the previous chat data (e.g., chatlog_1 throughchatlog_4) stored in the shared drive may be restricted. However, afterthe state changes to the suspended state, chat data chatlog_9 throughchatlog_12) transmitted and received in the team chat room may be storedin the shared drive based on access authority of the shared drive.

When the first participant receives the previous chat data (e.g.,chatlog_1 through chatlog_4) of a team chat room in the normal usestate, and the previous chat data (e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_4) isstored in a personal drive corresponding to an account of the firstparticipant or in a terminal of the first participant, the firstparticipant may access the personal drive or a memory in the terminal toview the previous chat data.

Referring to FIG. 3B, when a team chat room is in a suspended state at aparticipation point 313 at which a first participant participates in theteam chat room, the first participant may not view previous chat data(e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_10) stored in a shared drive accordingto access authority of the shared drive based on the state of the teamchat room. In the suspended state, viewing the previous chat data (e.g.,chatlog_1 through chatlog_10) stored in the shared drive may berestricted. However, chat data (e.g., chatlog_11 and chatlog_12)transmitted and received in the team chat room after the state ischanged to the suspended state may be stored in the shared drive basedon access authority of the shared drive.

Referring to FIG. 4A, after a state of a team chat room is changed froma normal use state to a suspended state, a server may convert the chatroom type from a team chat room into a general chat room based on aduration of the suspended state of the team chat room. As describedabove, in a case of a general chat room, access authority of the shareddrive may be determined such that use of the shared drive is terminated.That is, for a general chat room, storage of the chat data in the shareddrive may be restricted, and access authority of the shared drive may bedetermined such that viewing the chat data stored in the shared drive isalso restricted. The server may terminate use of the shared drive basedon a type conversion to a general chat room. According to an exampleembodiment, when the use of the shared drive is terminated, data storedin the shared drive may be deleted.

Chat data (e.g., chatlog_9 through chatlog_16) transmitted and receivedin a general chat room after a team chat room is converted into ageneral chat room may not be stored in the shared drive corresponding tothe account of the administrator based on access authority of the shareddrive.

After a team chat room is converted into a general chat room, the firstparticipant participating in the converted chat room may not view thechat data (e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_12) from before theparticipating started through the general chat room based on accessauthority of the shared drive. The chat data (e.g., chatlog_13 throughchatlog_16) transmitted and received in the general chat room after theparticipating started may be stored in the personal drive correspondingto the account or the terminal of the first participant based on theaccount type of the first participant.

Referring to FIG. 4B, when an administrator account of a team chat roomis maintained or converted into a first type account in a preset periodafter a state of the team chat room is changed from a normal use stateto a suspended state, the team chat room may be maintained. When theadministrator account of the team chat room is converted into the firsttype account, the suspended state of the team chat room may change backto the normal use state, and the team chat room may be maintained.

When the administrator account with a converted second type account isconverted back into the first type account after the state of the teamchat room is changed to the suspended state, the state of the team chatroom may be changed hack to the normal use state. For example, when thefirst type account is terminated and converted into the second typeaccount because the administrator did not pay a service fee formaintaining the first type account, the second type account may berestored back to the first type account by paying the service fee again.When the administrator account is converted back into the first typeaccount and administrator authority is returned, the state of the teamchat room may be changed from the suspended state to the normal usestate.

When the state of a team chat room is converted back into a normal usestate, access authority of the shared drive may change back tocorrespond to the normal use state. That is, when the state of the teamchat room is converted into the normal use state, access authority ofthe shared drive may change to correspond to the normal use state. Whenthe administrator account is converted back into the first type accountwhile the team chat room is in in the suspended state, the server mayremove an access restriction on the chat data stored in the shareddrive.

After the state of a team chat room is changed to the normal use state,the first participant participating in the team chat room may receivethe previous chat data (e.g., chatlog_1 to chatlog_12) through the teamchat room based on access authority of the shared drive corresponding tothe normal use state. The previous chat data may include chat datatransmitted and received in the suspended state.

When administrator authority is transferred to another participant withthe first type account after the state of the team chat room isconverted into the suspended state, the state of the team chat room maybe converted hack into the normal use state. When the administrator ofthe team chat room is changed to another participant with the first typeaccount, the state of the team chat room may be converted from thesuspended state into the normal use state. When the state of the teamchat room is converted into the normal use state, access authority ofthe shared drive may change to correspond to a normal use state. Whenadministrator authority is transferred to the participant with the firsttype account participating in the team chat room in the suspended state,the server may remove an access restriction on the chat data stored inthe shared drive.

According to an example embodiment, a chat message for transferringadministrator authority may be delivered to a user who is a transfertarget through a notification account of art instant messenger. Thenotification account may be a separate account for providing anotification associated with an instant messaging service to individualusers, and the user may receive various notification messages through achat room from the notification account. The notification account may beimplemented in a form of a chatbot in the corresponding chat room todeliver a notification message to the user.

According to an example embodiment, after an administrator of a teamchat room is set, a preset administrator may be changed to another user.When an account type of the user set as the administrator is convertedinto another type, and the administrator loses the authority, theadministrator of the team chat room may change. For example, when theadministrator account is converted into the second type account becausea user se as the administrator of the team chat room does not satisfyconditions for maintaining the first type account (e.g., payment forusing a service), the administrator may lose the authority. According toan example embodiment, when the account of the user set as theadministrator is not useable, the administrator may set anotherparticipant as the administrator even when the user set as theadministrator is not a participant in the team chat room. Theadministrator may also set another participant as the administrator dueto a request of the participant of the team chat room.

When the administrator of a team chat room changes, at least one ofparticipants corresponding to the user account type to whichadministrator authority is given may be set as a new administrator. Thenew administrator may be assigned as an existing administrator or as auser selected by other participants in the team chat room or beautomatically assigned based on a preset standard.

When the administrator of a team chat room changes from a first user toa second user, chat data of the team chat room stored in a shared drivecorresponding to the first user may be moved to a shared drivecorresponding to the second user. After the administrator is changed,the chat data transmitted and received in the team chat room may bestored in a shared drive corresponding to the second user.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of terminating a team chat room accordingto an example embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a server may delete chat data (e.g., chatlog_1through chatlog_12) in a shared drive by a request to terminate a teamchat room. When the chat data transmitted and received in the team chatroom is stored in a personal drive corresponding to a participant, theserver may delete the chat data (e.g., chatlog_1 through chatlog_12) inthe team chat room from the personal drive in response to the request toterminate the team chat room.

When a team chat room is terminated, the chat data (e.g., chatlog_1through chatlog_12) transmitted and received in the team chat room inthe shared drive corresponding to an administrator account and thepersonal drive corresponding to the first type account of theparticipant may be all deleted.

A request to terminate a team chat room may include a request to deletethe team chat room by the administrator of the team chat room. Theadministrator of the team chat room may request the server to delete theteam chat room, and the server may receive the request to delete theteam chat room and store the chat data stored in the shared drivecorresponding to the administrator of the team chat room and thepersonal drive corresponding to the participant of the team chat room.When the team chat room is terminated by the request to delete the teamchat room, a chaffing process associated with a corresponding chat roommay be terminated.

A request to terminate a team chat room may include a type conversion ofthe team chat room. As described above, when an administrator account ofthe team chat room is converted, the team chat room may be convertedinto a general chat room. The server may terminate the team chat roomand convert the team chat room into a general chat room by deleting thechat data stored in the shared drive corresponding to the administratorof the team chat room and the chat data stored in the personal drivecorresponding to the participant of the team chat room based on theconverted administrator account. When a team chat room is terminatedbecause the team chat room is converted, the chatting process of thecorresponding chat room may proceed in the general chat room. That is,although participants of the team chat room may not be able to usefunctions provided in the team chat room, the participants may transmitand receive chat data through the type-converted chat room.

According to an example embodiment, when a participant leaves a teamchat room or is removed from the team chat room by the administrator ofthe team chat room, the participant may not access the team chat room toview chat data of the team chat room and may not transmit or receivedata through the team chat room. Chat data of a team chat room stored ina personal drive corresponding to a first participant may be deletedwhen the first participant leaves or is removed from the team chat room.

FIGS. 6A through 6C illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for opening a team chat room according to exampleembodiments.

Referring to FIG. 6A, a user with a first type account of an instantmessaging service may open a team chat room through an instantmessenger. A team chat room generator may set a name for the team chatroom, and the set name may be shared with participants of the team chatroom. Referring to FIG. 6B, when a team chart room generator generates ateam chat room, the team chat room generator may assign a participant tothe team chat room. The team chat room generator may select one or moreof users from among users registered as friends in the instant messengeras participants of the team chat room. Referring to FIG. 6C, a team chatroom may be generated that includes a team chat room generator and aparticipant assigned by the team chat room generator.

FIGS. 7A through 7C illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for receiving previous chat data through a team chatroom according to example embodiments.

As described above, a participant in a team chat room may receive chatdata transmitted and received in a team chat room before they started toparticipate through the team chat room. For example, referring to FIG.7A, the participant in the team chat room may request previous chat datafrom a server through an interface 701 for requesting the previous chatdata. The server may access the previous chat data stored in a shareddrive based on access authority of the shared drive. When the team chatroom is in a normal use state, the server may access the previous chatdata stored in the shared drive and provide the previous chat data tothe participant who requested the previous chat data in the team chatroom. Referring to FIG. 7C, the previous chat data obtained from theshared drive may be displayed in a form of a message 702 on an interfaceof the team chat room of the participant who requested the previous chatdata. The previous chat data received from the interface of the teamchat room may be displayed in the same manner as chat data that issubsequently displayed. Participants who receive the previous chat datamay verify the previous chat data by moving their position on theinterface of the team chat room in which the chat data is displayed in achronological order. For example, a text message included in theprevious chat data may be verified, and a media file included in theprevious chat data may be downloaded on a terminal.

FIGS. SA through SD illustrate examples of an interface screen of aninstant messenger for changing settings of a team chat room according toexample embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 8A, an administrator of a team chat room may changesettings of the team chat room through an interface of an instantmessenger. The administrator of the team chat room may make a request toa server to change the settings of the team chat room through theinterface, and the server may change the settings of the team chat roomin response to the received request.

Referring to FIG. 8B, the administrator of the team chat room may changethe settings associated with providing previous chat data. According toan example embodiment, access to data stored in a shared drivecorresponding to an administrator account may be restricted by settingsof the administrator of the team chat room.

When a team chat room is in a normal use state, access authority of theshared drive corresponding to the administrator account may be set asdefault to allow access to data stored in the shared drive, and when“view chat history” is deactivated by the administrator, accessauthority of the shared drive may change such that access to data storedin the shared drive is restricted.

When a team chat room is in a suspended state, access authority of theshared drive corresponding to the administrator account may be set asdefault to restrict access to the data stored in the shared drive, andwhen “view chat history” is activated by the administrator, accessauthority of the shared drive may change such that access to data storedin the shared drive is allowed.

Referring to FIG. 8C, an administrator of a team chat room may manageparticipants of the team chat room through an interface of an instantmessenger. For example, after the team chat room is generated, otherparticipants or users may be invited to the team chat room such thatparticipants are added to the team chat room, and a participant who isalready participating may be removed from the team chat room.

A member management interface in FIG. 8C may be converted into a memberinvitation interface by selecting a member invitation 801 to make arequest to the server for an invitation for the selected member. Inaddition, by selecting the member invitation 801, an interface may beconverted into a member removal interface 802 and a selected member maybe removed from the team chat room According to an example embodiment, aparticipant removed by the administrator may be restricted fromaccessing the team chat room, and chat data of the team chat room storedin a personal drive of the removed participant may be deleted. Referringto FIG. 8D, in order to notify the removed participant that they havebeen removed from the team chat room, a notification in the form of amessage about being removed from the team chat room may be providedthrough a notification account of the instant messenger.

The units described herein may be implemented using hardware componentsand software components. For example, the hardware components mayinclude microphones, amplifiers, band-pass filters, audio to digitalconvertors, non-transitory computer memory and processing devices. Aprocessing device may be implemented using one or more general-purposeor special purpose computers, such as, for example, a processor, acontroller and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signalprocessor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), aprogrammable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor or any other devicecapable of responding to and executing instructions in a defined manner.The processing device may run an operating system (OS) and one or moresoftware applications that run on the OS. The processing device also mayaccess, store, manipulate, process, and create data in response toexecution of the software. For purpose of simplicity, the description ofa processing device is used as singular; however, one skilled in the artwill appreciated that a processing device may include multipleprocessing elements and multiple types of processing elements. Forexample, a processing device may include multiple processors or aprocessor and a controller. In addition, different processingconfigurations are possible, such as parallel processors.

The software may include a computer program, a piece of code, aninstruction, or some combination thereof, to independently orcollectively instruct or configure the processing device to operate asdesired. Software and data may be embodied permanently or temporarily inany type of machine, component, physical or virtual equipment, computerstorage medium or device, or in a propagated signal wave capable ofproviding instructions or data to or being interpreted by the processingdevice. The software also may be distributed over network coupledcomputer systems so that the software is stored and executed in adistributed fashion. The software and data may be stored by one or morenon-transitory computer readable recording mediums. The non-transitorycomputer readable recording medium may include any data storage devicethat can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system orprocessing device.

The methods according to the above-described example embodiments may berecorded in non-transitory computer-readable media including programinstructions to implement various operations of the above-describedexample embodiments. The media may also include, alone or in combinationwith the program instructions, data files, data structures, and thelike. The program instructions recorded on the media may be thosespecially designed and constructed for the purposes of exampleembodiments, or they may be of the kind well-known and available tothose having skill in the computer software arts. Examples ofnon-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic media such ashard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such asCD-ROM discs, DVDs, and/or Blue-ray discs; magneto-optical media such asoptical discs; and hardware devices that are specially configured tostore and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), flash memory (e.g., USB flash drives,memory, cards, memory sticks, etc.), and the like. Examples of programinstructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler,and files containing higher level code that may be executed by thecomputer using an interpreter.

The above-described devices may be configured to act as one or moresoftware modules in order to perform the operations of theabove-described example embodiments, or vice versa.

While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made in these examples without departing from the spiritand scope of the claims and their equivalents. The examples describedherein are to be considered in a descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, Descriptions of features or aspects in eachexample are to be considered as being applicable to similar features oraspects in other examples. Suitable results may be achieved if thedescribed techniques are performed in a different order, and/or ifcomponents in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit arecombined in a different manner and/or replaced or supplemented by othercomponents or their equivalents.

Therefore, the scope of the disclosure is defined not by the detaileddescription, but by the claims and their equivalents, and all variationswithin the scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construedas being included in the disclosure,

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating an instant messagingserver, comprising: storing, by the instant messaging server, chat datatransmitted and received in a first type chat room in a shared drivecorresponding to an administrator with a first type account having anauthority to manage the chat room; determining, by the instant messagingserver, at least one of a chat room type and a state of the chat roombased on at least one of a type conversion of the administrator account,an account type of a changed administrator, and termination conditionsset in response to the first type chat room; receiving, by the instantmessaging server, from a participant participating in the chat room, arequest for a previous chat data transmitted and received in the chatroom before the participant started participating, the instant messagingserver being configured to provision the chat room on a user terminal ofthe participant; determining, by the instant messaging server, whetheraccess to the shared drive is allowed based on at least one of the chatroom type and the state of the chat room; and providing, by the instantmessaging server, the previous chat data stored in the shared drive tothe participant based on a determination that the access to the shareddrive is allowed.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: changingthe determination that the access to the shared drive is allowed basedon a type conversion of the chat room by the administrator account. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: converting the chat room typeinto a second type when the administrator account is converted into asecond type account; and terminating use of the shared drive in responseto a type conversion of the chat room.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: managing the first type chat room in a suspended state whenthe administrator account is converted into a second type account; andrestricting the access to the chat data stored in the shared drive whilethe suspended state continues.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: converting the chat room type into a second type based on aduration of the suspended state; and terminating use of the shared drivebased on a type conversion of the chat room.
 6. The method of claim 4,further comprising: removing an access restriction on the chat datastored in the shared drive when the administrator account is convertedinto the first type account in the suspended state.
 7. The method ofclaim 4, further comprising: removing an access restriction on the chatdata stored in the shared drive when an administrator authority istransferred to a participant with the first type account participatingin the chat room in the suspended state.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, from a user, a request to generate thechat room to which at least one participant is assigned; generating, asthe first type, the chat room comprising the user and at least oneparticipant based on an account type of the user; allocating a space forthe chat room in the shared drive; and setting the user as theadministrator of the chat room.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: storing at least one of the chat data transmitted andreceived in the chat room after the participant started participatingand the previous chat data in a personal drive corresponding to theparticipant based on an account type of the participant.
 10. The methodof claim 9, further comprising: deleting the chat data stored in theshared drive corresponding to the administrator in response to a requestto terminate the chat room; and deleting the chat data stored in thepersonal drive corresponding to the participant.
 11. The method of claim1, further comprising inputting a setting to the instant messagingserver to allow the access to the shared drive for previous chat data inthe chat room, the setting being configurable in a graphical userinterface.
 12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform the method of claim
 1. 13. An instant messaging server,comprising: a processor, wherein the processor is configured to: store,by the processor, chat data transmitted and received in a first typechat room in a shared drive corresponding to an administrator with afirst type account having an authority to manage the chat room; receive,by the processor from a participant participating in a chat room, arequest for a previous chat data transmitted and received in the chatroom before the participant started participating, the processor beingconfigured to provision the chat room on a user terminal of theparticipant; determine, by the processor, at least one of a chat roomtype and a state of the chat room based on a conversion history of anaccount type of the administrator of the chat room; determine, by theprocessor, whether the access to the shared drive is allowed based on atleast one of the chat room type and the state of the chat room; andprovide, by the processor, the previous chat data stored in the shareddrive to the participant based on a determination that the access to theshared drive is allowed.
 14. The instant messaging server of claim 13,wherein the processor is configured to: convert the chat room type intoa second type when the administrator account is converted into a secondtype account; and terminate use of the shared drive in response to atype conversion of the chat room.
 15. The instant messaging server ofclaim 13, wherein the processor is configured to: manage the first typechat room in a suspended state when the administrator account isconverted into a second type account; and restrict the access to thechat data stored in the shared drive while the suspended statecontinues.
 16. The instant messaging server of claim 15, wherein theprocessor is configured to: convert the chat room type into a secondtype based on a duration of the suspended state; and terminate use ofthe shared drive based on a type conversion of the chat room.
 17. Theinstant messaging server of claim 15, wherein the processor isconfigured to: remove an access restriction on the chat data stored inthe shared drive when the and administrator account is converted intothe first type account in the suspended state.
 18. The instant messagingserver of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to: remove anaccess restriction on the chat data stored in the shared drive when anadministrator authority is transferred to a participant with the firsttype account participating in the chat room in the suspended state. 19.The instant messaging server of claim 13, wherein the processor isconfigured to: receive, from a user, a request to generate the chat roomto which at least one participant is assigned; generate, as the firsttype, the chat room comprising the user and at least one participantbased on an account type of the user; allocate a space for the chat roomin the shared drive; and set the user as the administrator of the chatroom.
 20. The instant messaging server of claim 13, wherein theprocessor is configured to: store at least one of the chat datatransmitted and received in the chat room after the participant startedparticipating and the previous chat data in a personal drivecorresponding to the participant based on an account type of theparticipant.